Who is advising Kevin Pietersen, assuming the tripe pedalled about him coming
back to play for England’s one-day team isn’t entirely of his own making?

Whoever it is must be playing a counter-intuitive game of cat and mouse way above that managed by the masters of the genre.

Either that or else they are taking everyone else for a mug.

Pietersen retired from international one-day cricket earlier this season after the ECB refused to accept his conditions, which were to drop 50-over cricket for England and continue playing Tests and T20s.

Yet after just over a month out he has come back with a different offer, one that appears to be as much Trojan horse as volte-face.

Under current England contracts, though, the two one-day forms are indivisible so Pietersen was left to sate himself on Test cricket and the Indian Premier League, that annual beano India squeezes in before the monsoon.

He also cited fatigue and the long periods away from his young family as reasons for his decision to quit the one-day game.

Pietersen left, with perhaps not as much weeping and wailing as he’d expected.

It soon became apparent, too, that being and marketing oneself as a superstar cricketer is difficult without actually being on the field, and it began to look a lonely existence, especially when England won their one-day matches strongly.

So after fewer than six weeks, he has returned with a new offer which, it appears, has him back to play all three forms of cricket for England if he can play the entire IPL for the Delhi Daredevils, whose contract with Pietersen is worth $2 million (£1.3 million) per tournament.

This year Pietersen managed just over half the tournament due to his Test commitments with England, but as he is paid about £160,000 a week, plus other bonuses, his mind would have been plotting how to get it all.

Suddenly, we know, and instead of 50-over cricket he wants to miss, it is Test cricket, specifically that early series that clashes with the IPL.

Incredibly, spending more quality time with his family has suddenly fallen off the agenda.

One can understand Pietersen trying it on after being emboldened by his brilliant form, confirmed by his recent 234 against Lancashire.

Yet, it still takes a vaulting arrogance to believe you can return to a forum, that has made its negotiating position extremely clear, with a new set of conditions.

Pietersen cannot return with a counter-offer and expect it to be considered seriously. By doing that he brings the mercenary instincts, which many feel were his prime motivation when first qualifying for England, to the fore.

Playing for England should be about a collective pride of purpose, not about negotiating a better deal. It could be that England’s players knew of Pietersen’s grasping attitude a long time ago and it is one they are prepared to tolerate.

On the other hand, that view appears to be at variance with Flower’s attitude which is that the England team never stands still and will move on regardless from those not obeying its rules.

So far, with England having won all seven of the one-day games since Pietersen’s departure, it looks a sage assessment.

What also appears lost on Pietersen is that as employers, the ECB cannot make exceptions, or every player would want to renegotiate.

The only player I ever saw an exception being made for was Ian Botham and he was the pre-eminent performer in a way that Pietersen never has been.

Like Shakespeare’s seven ages of man, cricketers have three phases of their playing life.

At first, they play for love and experience, then, as they begin to improve, they play for glory before they spend their dotage chasing the money.

Pietersen is a brilliant batsman but has entered that last phase, so his place in a side still eyeing glory has become badly compromised and that includes his position in the Test team too.